Dear Ray et al.,
Thanks for your report on the LHC meeting at SLAC. Persis seems to have it
about right. In reference to 'frequent flier miles' I think she had in
mind a piece recently published in the NYT about Mike Tuts. He describes
the difficulty of explaining what we do as high energy physicists but
emphasizes the need to do so.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/business/14flier.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tuts&st=cse
To quote:
"Once I was at an airport, Long Beach I think, and I was just staring at
the wall opposite the gate. On the wall there were a bunch of equations,
one of which I quickly realized was something called Bernoullis equation.
It is a key equation that describes why an airplane can fly.
I remember wondering how many of the people waiting for the flight
realized how important that equation was to the plane they were about to
board. I could have told them about it. If only someone would have asked."
How many times have you had that experience?
There have been times when I've looked out the window and seen the 'glory
effect' or have measured ground speed by similar triangles knowing the
altitude of the plane, or have seen the expanding slip stream over the top
of the wing drive humid air across the dew point, or measured the ambient
temperature vs. altitude (about 5C/km), or watched the slow rotation of the
plane by compass as it flies the great circle over the north Atlantic ...
Most people don't have that kind of awareness but physicists do and it
would be fun to try to explain these things if they would only ask.
PS: I use Ambien too.
Best regards,
Frank
Frank E. Taylor
CERN MIT
ATLAS Collaboration Bldg. 26 - Rm 569
188-3-015 77 Mass. Ave.
Route de Meyrin 385, CH-1211 Geneva 23 Cambridge, MA 02139
Switzerland USA
Office: +41-22-767-6373 Office: 617-253-7249
FAX: +41-22-767-8350 FAX: 617-258-6923
CELL: 857-891-8579 (USA & Europe) CERN CELL +41 76 487 3563
email: [log in to unmask]
web: http://www2.lns.mit.edu/~fet/atlas_mit.html
On Thu, 16 Jul 2009, Ray F. Cowan wrote:
> Hi Frank, Everyone,
>
> Sounds like an interesting sight-seeing trip. I wouldn't get too
> worried about LHC-Verdun similarities! A little success at the LHC--which
> I'm sure will come--will turn attitudes around 180 degrees!
>
> Here at SLAC, the SLUO LHC workshop started this morning. Gerard Bonneaud
> opened the meeting. Persis spoke and took questions. Mike Tuts just finished
> describing the US Atlas Operations Program: people, institutions, funding,
> plans, upgrades, etc. He just showed some slides about the US contribution to
> the detector, Frank was mentioned (a lot!).
>
> The workshop page is at
> http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/sluo/2009meeting/agenda-5-14-2009.asp
>
> Available presentations (so far) are at
> http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/sluo/2009meeting/Talks/LHC%20Workshop/
>
> Here are a few items from Persis' talk:
>
> > We can't call SLAC a particle physics lab without participation in the LHC.
> >
> > US institutions face the challenge of maintaining a presence at home
> > universities to attract students, make assist profs visible, but also
> > at CERN. New scale to this challenge. Some people make NYT due to
> > frequent flier miles.
> >
> > Need to hear from SLUO users how SLAC can support you.
> >
> > On a ten-year horizon, won't expect everyone to be at CERN; but in the
> > first few years, CERN will be the place to be. Goal to satisfy: how to
> > do upgrades.
> >
> > We are here to serve the user community. Can't serve you without knowing
> > what you need.
> >
> > Q&A with Persis
> >
> > Uli Wienands: On the accelerator side, the situation is different. Much
> > more involved in running.
> >
> > Persis: The ways we do business and the ways we interact will be different
> > in the future than it has been in the past.
> >
> > For the accelerator physicist who is interested in
> > solving problems for particle physics, the center of the world will
> > be CERN. We have a fine accelerator here, but it's targeted at different
> > things.
> >
> > Norm: Does the Senate's wording "support for the LHC based on the
> > unknown timescale" worry you?
> >
> > Persis: There are also rumblings about how much to send overseas vs.
> > spend here. I have said publicly already that I believe that you cannot,
> > by restricting funding, force the HEP community to do HEP in the US. You
> > will just force people out of the field. This is on Bill Brinkman's mind.
> > I talk with him in ten days. Is there another delay of a year? The new
> > DG is terrific since he's been so transparent. Transparency between HEP
> > and the public on the LHC is absolutely essential.
> >
> > Ken Moffet: How will resources at SLAC for building up upgrades for LHC
> > or Atlas grow?
> >
> > Persis: We have to fit within the US Atlas national program and funding
> > agencies plans. We can't just be a big lab and do what we want.
> > From where I sit, I can be supportive with space and infrastructure.
> > David MacFarlane can say more.
>
> Thanks,
> --Ray
>
> On Thu, 16 Jul 2009, Frank Taylor wrote:
>
> > Dear All,
> >
> > Since the meeting will be at 8:00 PM Geneva time I'll try to connect by
> > Skype from home (France) but may have limited bandwidth.
> >
> > In case the connection is bad my LHC report is that vacuum leaks have been
> > found in 2 cold sectors which will necessitate a partial warmup. The note
> > from the DG is at this URL:
> >
> > http://user.web.cern.ch/user/news/2009/090716.html
> >
> > The bottom line is that the LHC will be closed up and ready for beam
> > around mid-November if no more problems are found. On that front the 80K
> > resistance measurements still have to be done on 3 sectors. If a high
> > resistance is found in the copper buss then the whole sector will have to
> > be warmed up to 300K. That would make for an even longer shutdown.
> >
> > All indications are that the startup will be a long and difficult
> > campaign so such reports as this one are not unexpected.
> >
> > Ellen and I just had a long weekend when we visited the battle fields of
> > Verdun and went inside the largest installation of the Maginot Line. I'm
> > trying hard to not associate the battle of attrition at Verdun in 1916 and
> > Maginot's strategy of 1940 with the LHC.
> >
> > For those interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Frank
> >
> > Frank E. Taylor
> >
> > CERN MIT
> > ATLAS Collaboration Bldg. 26 - Rm 569
> > 188-3-015 77 Mass. Ave.
> > Route de Meyrin 385, CH-1211 Geneva 23 Cambridge, MA 02139
> > Switzerland USA
> > Office: +41-22-767-6373 Office: 617-253-7249
> > FAX: +41-22-767-8350 FAX: 617-258-6923
> >
> > CELL: 857-891-8579 (USA & Europe) CERN CELL +41 76 487 3563
> > email: [log in to unmask]
> > web: http://www2.lns.mit.edu/~fet/atlas_mit.html
> >
> > On Wed, 15 Jul 2009, Ray F. Cowan wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Everyone,
> > >
> > > This week we meet at **2 PM Eastern** on Thursday, July 16, for
> > > our weekly LQS meeting. Dial-in is 510-665-5437, passcode 7336.
> > >
> > > After round-table reports, we'll start our MIT review of BAD 2222, v6,
> > > on "Analysis of the decays tau --> Ks pi nu and tau --> Ks pi pi0 nu using
> > > the BaBar detector". The paper is a "physics note", which means it will
> > > be used by BaBar speakers preparing conference talks, but will not be
> > > published nor released to the public--so we only need to comment on the
> > > physics and not at all on the grammar or style.
> > >
> > > Our review is due July 22, so we'll start it this week and if needed
> > > finish up next week.
> > >
> > > The meeting website is:
> > > http://dmtpc.mit.edu/MaKaC/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=187
> > > The paper is available on the meeting page and is also attached.
> > >
> > > Hope you can join us.
> > >
> > > Thanks much,
> > > --Ray
> > >
> >
>
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